Gakuen Alice Crisis at the Alice Academy
by Honey R.K
Summary: Alice Academy burns down and Natsume and Ruka mysteriously dissapear,everyone students and teachers of Alice Academy blames Natsume for the destruction that lead Alice Academy to ruins. Was it really him or someone else? Will they all meet again? READ!
1. Chapter 1 Crisis at the Academy

**Chapter One**

**_Crisis at Alice Academy_**

"Where's Natsume and Ruka?" a girl who looked no more than 12 years old screamed at the top of her voice as the building's

of Alice Academy came crashing down by flames.

"LET'S JUST GET IN THE EMERGENCY ROOM, MIKAN!" bellowed her friend, Hotaru who was about the same age as her. "Idiot,

forget about him, I'm sure he's fine!" she added as she dragged Mikan away from the burning building. Reluctantly, Mikan

obeyed Hotaru, but something felt very wrong. As they ran, along with a hundred more children towards the Hospital (which

was the only building not burning down because of its long distance from all the other burning buildings), Mikan turned her

head backwards every ten steps she took.

It was the middle of the night, everyone still wore their pajamas and some were being rushed into the hospital because they were badly injured. Others only had small injuries.

"Everyone! Get in as quick as you can!" shouted a tall man. He's hair blonde and curly and he's eyes dazzlingly bright but

fearful.

"Mr. Narumi!' cried Mikan and the man turned to look at her. "Where are Natsume and Ruka?"

"They're not with you?" Mr. Narumi asked hoarsely getting all the more worried with the piece of news.

"They're not here!" Mikan said, looking horrified. "But you don't suppose they're back there do you?"

"Course not, Mikan, just get in now!" Mr. Narumi said reassuringly, patting Mikan on the right shoulder. "I'm sure they're OK,

so get in..."

"NO! I have a feeling he's back there!" Mikan cried, tugging on Mr. Narumi's shirt. Mr. Narumi stooped down and laid his hands

on Mikan's shoulders.

"Don't worry, he'll be OK...," now don't make such a fuss and please do get in now!" He said the last four words loud and

strict. Mikan, who looked all the more reluctant heaved a sigh that sounded more like cry and went in the hospital entrance

with her friend who for some reason had become very quiet. As they entered the hospital, they found it hard to breath for a

mass amount of children packed the whole place, some of them were as young as eleven years old and others would look

older but it was hard for one to guess they're age. Hotaru and Mikan squeezed their way through the crowd and took a seat

on the benches as they were told to. Mikan had been asking other children and some nurses as they passed by whether they

had seen Natsume and Ruka but the answer was always either, "I haven't" or "no."

Alice Academy was in the brink of destruction but none of the teachers or the principal himself would admit it to the children,

the flames were unstoppable. What's more is the Black Cat of Alice Academy was missing. As the flames ate up the buildings,

a young boy whom looked at the age of twelve lay down on his bed, as if nothing was happening. He looked either too weak

to get up or didn't want to get up at all. As the flames grew larger into a huge beast that swept across the halls and corridors

of that large building, the boy did not twitch nor made a sound.

"I shouldn't live anymore, I want to die, and I've caused enough pain and suffering!" The boy thought. "I DON'T WANT LIFE!"

He embraced the flames as if they were friends and he did not want to move and did not plan to until, a scream broke out

somewhere outside the boy's room.

"NATSUME!" bellowed a voice that the boy recognized and for the first time during that night, Natsume (whom was the boy)

got up and ran towards the door. It was as if the voice was the only thing that would give him strength and make him get up,

it seemed to tear him away from the flames. It was hard to get through all the flames and burning obstacles that kept falling

down from the roof but finally Natsume was able to get to the hall. Everything was burning, the walls were crashing down

and the roof constantly fell with heaps of flames on it. Natsume struggled his way out and called out to the voice that

screamed a moment earlier.

"RUKA!" Natsume screamed a scream you would never believe could come out of a person who looked half dead.

"NATSUME, IS THAT YOU!" cried back Ruka. "WHERE ARE YOU?" he added with a loud bellowing voice. The whole place seemed

swallowed up by fire and smoke that one could hardly see anything through it but the glaring lights the fire produced. It was

extremely hot and Natsume sweated all over.

"RUKA, I'M HERE, FOLLOW MY VOICE!" Natsume shouted at the top of his voice. As the both of them kept shouting things like

"I'm here" for a short moment they finally got hold of where the other was standing and as they got together the next

problem was how to get out. The floor they were standing on had begun to crash down the slowly and the two of them had

to be cautious of where to step. Then, an idea crossed through Natsume's mind.

"Ruka, hold on to my shoulder and brace yourself!" and without a moment to waste, Natsume gathered his strength and

clutched the necklace he had been wearing under his shirt. The necklace looked like it was made of pink pearl that blunted a

little bit on the edges. He held on to it and it glowed a little and as if the necklace acted like a force field against the fire, they

walked through the flames unharmed. As they passed through the burning halls and corridors, they finally made their way out

of the building. As they were free at last from the flames, they both dropped down on their backs on the grass outside and

watched the burning building crashed down. Both panted and if one was to hear them pant, they would know they were

dehydrated.

Finally after a moment's silence, Natsume gulped and said, "Are you nuts!"

"What do you mean, you're the one that's nuts for not getting out of that damn situation. Didn't you know you could

have...Died!" Ruka stammered, the colour from his face draining. "Did you want to die?"

"I...," Natsume had realized the danger he had got his friend into and he looked shocked at himself, 'I'm sorry..."

Ruka heaved a great sigh and said, "It's alright, just don't do that to yourself again and anyway-" he added as if he had just

remembered something. "What protected us from those flames?" Natsume paused for a moment then he took off the

necklace he had clutched during their escape from the burning building. Ruka stared at it with a great wonder.

There was a pause, and then with a low voice, Ruka said, "an Alice stone?" Natsume nodded. "But how could an Alice

stoneprotect us unless it was made out of an Alice whom had the power of Nullification..." It was not after a few seconds that

Ruka realized that the Alice Stone was Mikan's. He then grew very quiet.

"Let's go when we can..." Natsume whispered (although no one but the two of them was sitting there).

"Where?" asked Ruka. "Should we go to the hospital now?"

"No," Natsume said quietly. "We have to run away from here."

"Why?" Ruka asked, bewildered.

"Because what do you think will happen to me when I show up in front of everyone?"

"But Natsume!" Ruka said. 'I just know you weren't the one who set the fire...were you...?" he added, a little scared.

Natsume look at Ruka with a serious face and said, "No, but who will believe that!" Ruka looked shocked.

"But what about everyone? What would they think; they might think we're dead if we don't show up!" Ruka looked at

Natsume as if he had gone mad.

"Then stay, I'll go alone!" Natsume said silently.

"That wasn't what I meant!" Ruka exclaimed. "I know you want to run away from here but think about Mikan!" Natsume

looked taken aback at these words. "Aren't you aware of her feelings?"

"I don't care about her!" Natsume roared.

"You act like you don't give a damn but you do!" Ruka retorted. This was the first time Ruka felt this angry at Natsume.

"You're being selfish!"

"You understand, do you that if everyone else thinks I set the fire, Mikan would be hurt and all the more, I'm the only one

people around here, think is capable of setting such a fire even if I didn't!"

"But Natsume, you weren't the one who set the fire-!"

"DO YOU THINK PEOPLE WOULD UNDERSTAND THAT AS YOU DO?" Natsume bellowed. His colour rising. Ruka became silent.

"Do you see the ruckus the fire made and if people think it were me, do you think they could forgive me; don't you think that

the people are better off without me?"

There was a pause.

"Where do we go then?" Ruka replied.

* * *

This fanfiction will be updated soon. I do not own Gakuen Alice, I merely wrote a fanfiction of it. :P


	2. Chapter 2 Attempt to Escape

**Chapter Two**

**Attempt to Escape**

"Hotaru! Where on earth is Mikan-chan?" pouted Nonoko Ogasawara, as Hotaru snacked on a waffle bar. "First, Natsume and

Ruka go missing, then her?"

"Where is Ruka and Natsume-kun!?" Yome Kokoro asked, his expression lopsided.

"I heard he and Ruka are back at the burning building...," Anna Umenomiya said, looking wretched.

"SHUT UP!" Sumirei Shoda, Natsume's number one fan, bellowed. "Natsume is too strong to be back there!" she said, looking

teary.

"Who knows this must be his doing, dumb-head!" spitted a boy from the corner of the room, he looked disdainful. "That

stupid dog, or dare I say, "Kitten" is a disgrace to Alice Aca-"

"DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT BULL-HEAD!" Sumirei retorted. She looked deranged. "Natsume would never do such a thing!"

she burst into tears and ran off mumbling words like, "I'm going to find him...," or "I bet his gonna be somewhere here..."

Mochiage-kun, one of Natsume's piers or sort of bodyguard, had slid off the conversation and strode towards the boy whom insulted Natsume as to teach him a lesson. The boy tried to run away from his presence but Mochiage-kun's telekinesis Alice had gotten the better of him.

"Natsume, being such the jerk as he is, would never want to hurt us; burning Alice Academy would be the last thing on his

head!" Tsubasa-senpai stammered. Misaki-senpai smacked the back of Tsubasa-senpai's head and said:

"Last thing, huh? Wouldn't it be better if you said, not at all?" she smirked, looking at Tsubasa-senpai with piercing eyes.

"Well, I never said Natsume was a saint, did I?" Tsubasa retorted, several people shuddered and some were even mumbling

under their breaths. Some people even grunted on how they were taking the situation so lightly, but the truth was, even Tsubasa-senpai and Misaki-senpai were frightened.

"Natsume-kun, would not want Alice Academy to burn down for two reasons, those who are smart around here would know

those two reasons," Hotaru said, quite calmly.

"But are you suggesting that they might be back at the elementary school section, where it's burning, Hotaru-san?" Yuu

Tobita asked.

"Who knows for sure...," Hotaru said, feeling amazing peaceful but as she said those words, the whole room had become

glum and morose.

"I hope everyone's OK...," Anna said, looking very worried indeed.

The argument had been the centre of attraction in the room and they continued to fight about the matter.

"I want my mommy!" cried a little girl who wept on the floor of the hospital hall as Mikan, who had passed by looking for

Natsume, spotted her and felt a great rush of sympathy and understanding towards the little girl. She approached the little

girl slowly and gave her a pat on the head.

"It's ok, we'll be alright...," Mikan whispered as the girl looked up at her. She felt a little lighter but still wept. Though the

words were encouraging, everyone would know they were empty and void. Mikan stayed by the little girl's side for a moment,

sitting on the floor next to her, looking very thoughtful that her expression was almost vague. "Come on now...don't cry...,"

she said finally as the girl continued weeping.

"I...I can't hel...help it...," cried the little girl. "I miss my mommy!"

"Don't cry, people should smile all the time so other people would smile and feel happy, please...smile for me," Mikan said,

smiling at the little girl. And as the young child wiped off her tears she forced a smile on her face that looked more like the

expression of one that had been whacked on the head, directing it towards Mikan.

"See, you look prettier when you smile!" and Mikan beamed. The girl simply beamed back and Mikan got up and told her she

had to go somewhere.

"Wait!" the girl then exclaimed after Mikan stood up and she hesitated a little as she asked, "I don't even know your name..."

"It's Mikan," Mikan said, grinning sheepishly. "Mikan Sakura."

"Mine's Yoko..." the little girl said shyly and she thrust a small box candy towards Mikan: she accepted, smiling. "Yoko Miyori

from the kindergarten grade..."

Mikan smiled and said good bye as she turned her back and darted off towards another room. Yoko just waved good bye and

she stood up and walked towards the door Mikan had entered.

"Where the heck has Ruka and that Natsume gone to? Oh that...that idiot!" Mikan thought, swearing under her breath. "I

hope that he's not back there..." It had hit her, was she really that worried for Natsume? A glimpse of Sumirei's stern face

popped up in Mikan's head. She then thought about the time Natsume held her hand, saying he would never let it go and she

blushed and her cheeks turned a great deal colour of red.

Sumirei, as Natsume's number one fan, had always been trustworthy towards him. Even though Natsume (what had seemed

to everyone that didn't know him well) didn't seem to care, deep down...way down, Natsume had feelings for Sumirei. Not the

type someone would call 'deep love' but "brotherly and sisterly love.' By all means possible, Sumirei was trying her hardest to

find Natsume but had refused the thought (though it was a very realistic thought) that he was back at the burning

elementary school section). She went to search for him everywhere and had not made any eye contact with anyone since

then.

First Person Point of View: Ruka

* * *

"Ruka, we need to head to the hospital first...cough..." Natsume looked weaker than ever, he trembled all over as he said this

to me. I answered, a little worried:  
"Are...are you OK, and why do we have to head back the hospital?" I asked him, astonished. "Have you gotten out of your

mind; I thought you didn't want to get caught?"

"No, it's not that-cough-it's just, I kept our passports and little money in my private hospital room just in case anything should

have happened...cough...we can't travel without them..."

I never thought Natsume would be this handicapped. "Well OK then..." I agreed to his idea, a little reluctant.

"Remember, my room is on the top floor where no one is allowed to go in: room number 101. I'm sure people are making a

search so they might make an exception tonight. The floor might be flooded with students cause' there isn't much room for

everyone.

"Plus, I hid some tools there, we might also need to shut down all the power systems so that the gates will be free and open

for us to escape: there is one in the hospital."

Natsume seemed to have been talking to himself than to me, I could sense he was in pain as he clutched Mikan's tiny yet

pretty looking, Alice Stone firmly on his palm. I couldn't believe such a tiny stone could be attached to a necklace. But

something had perplexed me.

'Why had Mikan given him her first Alice Stone and not to me, she had promised hadn't she?' I thought as Natsume continued

to give instructions; he spoke about disguises and a way to break in. 'Mikan...I couldn't stop thinking about her, I know

Natsume has feelings for her, I do too, immensely strong feelings...I'm so lost and confused, I've always wanted her for my

own, but having a friend who liked her as well made everything complicated. From all the girls of the world, why did he choose

Mikan, better yet, why do I choose Mikan?'

'We were still sitting on the grass, though we moved a little further from the burning building, we sat on a spot where it was

shaded by trees (this way, we wouldn't be spotted immediately). Natsume had to take a rest from all the walking; He had

been sick all week and had cut on class today (before the fire began). It was all so fuzzy; I couldn't believe Alice Academy

could fall so easily buy fire. But then, the academy was no such normal school, and a normal fire couldn't have burned it down

so easily. Could this have been Natsume's doing? No! I can't lose trust in him, I have to remain loyal...but still...Natsume could

have caused it without knowing...'

Finally, we stood up and started walking another route towards the hospital until:

"NATSUME!!" we heard Sumirei's loud voice call us. "RUKA WHERE ARE YOU GUYS!?"

Natsume and I both froze; luckily smoke had covered the whole area so that Sumirei would have only seen the faded blurred

image of the burning building and since we were hidden amongst the tress, it would be impossible to see us. She called out to us again, although you might have guessed or anyone could tell it was more like a sob. We walked slowly away from the

place we sat on and dashed towards the dark thicket of smoky fog and branches and leaves and made our way past Sumirei.

But as we moved passed, we couldn't help but feel sorry for her as we heard her sobs and desperate cries, I sighed and I

could tell Natsume did too. Sumirei had always been there for us, supporting, defending, and protecting our names from

anything that could have tainted them (though they were long tainted already). She was special to us, like a sister, a dear

friend (though Natsume did not show this feeling, I could tell that he does feel it too),  
We walked further away from her as she tried to get closer to the building, she screamed and sobbed, and she threw fists

over her head and pulled her hair. It was as if we were watching her do Yura Otanashi's divination dance. She looked quite

demented as she prevented herself from walking any further towards the burning building by slapping herself. 'Poor girl...' I

thought, sighing.

We walked slowly towards the Hospital, only we did not walk in the main entrance but we tried to enter through the back,

trying our best not to get caught. We climbed through an open window that lead towards an empty room, then, checking to

see whether anyone had noticed us, we closed the window shut and walked quietly towards the exit of the room. But just as

we were just about to walk out through the exit, Natsume had pulled me to the corner of the room, he had found two pairs of

clean doctor's robes which would explain why the room was so empty, the room was a doctor's lounge and since they were

all busy, they had to leave the place vacant till their work was done. Natsume signalled me to wear the robes as he started

to hoist them up and put them on: I imitated him, hoisting the other robe and I hastened them on. We put on black hats and

we both carried a first aid kit (just to give the illusion that we were still learning doctors). Then, stooping our heads low, we

started towards the exit of the room and as we I swung open the door, we saw a dozen of people passing through; some

were staring but then looked away uninterested as they saw our name tags: We were easily mistaken as male nurses.

Though I had my head stooped low, Natsume noticed my dumb founded expression. 'I was a second close to making a

mistake back there, luckily Natsume thought about the robes!' I thought. We passed through corridor after corridor and an

endless stream of halls.

There were a crowd of noisy people, whom suspected us a little but didn't seem all too interested in finding out who we were

because they were too busy worrying about friends and relatives whom did not arrive yet. Checking to see whether the coast

was clear, we made our way out and we rushed into the hospitals private stairways: No one was in there.

We walked floor after floor until we finally reached the top most floor: it was a spiral stair case. We went through the exit of

the stairway room. I noticed Natsume clutching Mikan's Alice Stone.

'It was strange...whenever Natsume touched Mikan's Alice stone, I could hear his heart pounding, his breath getting louder,

and he would stopped coughing temporarily. It seemed to give him a weird but oddly nice, comforting sensation. I looked

away, I couldn't bear the thought any longer and I focused on our mission.'

We passed through empty hallways and room after room before we reached our destination: Room 101 was our stop.

Natsume took out an iron key from his pocket and jostled it into the doorknob's key hole and with clacking sound, he swung

opened the door. We entered it and as we checked the empty hallway, I closed the door behind me. The room was very pitch

black, the curtains were open and the lights were off: it was hard to describe the room since it was pitch black except for a tiny bit of light one might see under the opening of a doors frame that allowed it to swing forwards and backwards: and a little opening from the shut windows beamed a small ray of moonlight into the room. Natsume sat down the hospital bed for a moment or two and he got up

again. I stood at the corner of the room as Natsume began to take off his robe and he put on a black jacket, which had been

lying on top of his bed, and zipped it. He gave me another jacket, only it was dark blue: I slid it onto my waist and hastened it

on. Natsume shut the curtains then began to pull open some drawers that stood beside his bed and pulled out various

things: one item was a funny looking packet of candies; another was a black leather wallet, and two passports and two black

cotton beanies. He threw all of these items into a black coloured back pack and he wrapped it around the back of his

shoulders. We were all set to go.

As we were just about to exit the room, we heard a strange voice behind us saying, "Wait..."

Dark in the shadows lurked a dark figure, which had the form of a girl. She stood up; we could only see her silhouette for she

stood on the darkest corner of the room. Then, she started walking towards us, her pace was very slow but as she walked

towards us, a little moonlight from a small opening from the shut curtains, revealed half of her face. It was Luna-san. She

grinned evilly as we stared at her derisive face.


	3. Chapter 3 The Meeting

**Chapter Three**

**The Meeting **

"How do you do, gentlemen...Natsume-kun?" Luna whispered. "I knew you'd come here..."

"It's none of your business moon-girl," muttered Natsume, his eyes were piercing even in the dark, though his voice was so

low, it seemed to echo. It was full of hatred and disgust.

"_Tsk...Tsk... tsk..." _Luna smirked scornfully. "Little Natsume has burned down the whole school...such a tragedy..."

My heart nearly pumped off my chest as she said those horrible words. Natsume merely glared with contempt.

"Oh!" Luna said, grinning despicably. "Isn't it Natsume's faithful apprentice, Ruka...helping his master burn down the whole school and murder the whole of Alice academy, all sections at the same time, eh'!"

"Shut your mouth, Crescent!" Natsume sneered. "I didn't burn the school so buzz off."

"You're the one to talk, with such a beautiful Alice I would love to take as my own!" Luna said. "Humph...Even if it would cause me my life..." she added, grinning. "Oh dear! I forgot, my Alice sucks the life out of me too (he...he...he...)!"

I wondered what she meant by this, her eyes seemed so beautiful but disdainful. It was the sort of thing that was too beautiful to lay your eyes on because of its black beauty.

"I'll be glad to throw it away, if only it were that simple," Natsume said scornfully. He looked at Luna with much contempt and disgust.

"Such a shame, I had no idea you didn't want your beautiful Alice of destruction. Perhaps one day we might trade." Luna sneered.

I felt so useless; I was standing there in the middle of their awkward conversation, frozen.

"Trade it with you?" Natsume grunted. "Over my dead body, I'd rather die than do that."

The tension was so immense that my lips couldn't move. Anything could have happened at this point, a trap may have been set for us. May be Persona had planned it all along. I was more worried to what might happen to Natsume than to me. Our attempt to escape had backfired as Luna and Natsume continued to stall.

"Darn it!" I thought. Would she dare try to suck the soul out of natsume and I? This was a bad thing.

Natsume raised his arm, there was a flash, and the room was soon engulfed in light.

* * *

At hospital's doctor's meeting room, now turned into a teachers meeting room:

"Narumi, what have you to say about this horrid situation!" Jinno-sensei bellowed. His eyes were piercing.

All the teachers, including Sakurano and the principals of Alice Academy were gathered in front of a rounded table. They sat according to value of the person's position. Narumi sat at the middle.

"To think about the state we're in is completely absurd! ABSURD I TELL YOU!" Jinno-sensei roared. The whole room seemed to shake a little.

"We couldn't even do a thing to prevent the fire," Noda- sensei said, very thoughtfully. "I have tried many times to go back into time, but I've gotten the same result in each try!"

"What happened then?" Misaki- sensei asked, looking taken aback. "You mean ... the fire was unstoppable?"

"You know what this means, do you!" Jinno sensei Shouted. "Hello-Kitty has done it again..."

"Incongruous!" Shouted Makihara. "Why would he try to put his friends in danger? My knowledge about him is very petite, but I know he values the safety and security of his dear friends."

"Perhaps, but you do know he can lose control and when he loses control, he is very dangerous!" Serina Yamada reasoned, as she patted her crystal ball.

"So what have you to say about it?" retorted Makihara. "What have you seen through your crystal ball, then, Mrs. Witch?"

"Please, everybody, we are acting like children fighting over candy!" spluttered Narumi, looking a little wretched. "We will resolve this problem in a calm manner."

"Calm! CALM?" bellowed Jinno- sensei, his eyes looked like they were about to bulge. "Haven't you noticed that almost the WHOLE of Alice Academy has fallen?"

"If-if I may...," Fukutan- sensei began, timidly. All this time he felt like he was excluded from the conversation. "I have received word that a few of our students from the elementary school division...has...has gone missing and-"

"Great!" muttered Makihara, "another problem would make the situation calmer, won't it!"

"You use unnecessary words, Makihara-san, let the man continue...," Hī-sama gestured.

Makihara- sensei looked slightly embarrassed but also angry.

"Well, you see...," continued Fukutan- sensei. "They're all girls, besides Hyuuga and Nogi, Koizumi Luna, Shoda Sumirei, and Sakura Mikan, have gone missing...they might still be in the hospital grounds but-"

"Mikan Sakura?" exclaimed Narumi, "but I saw her!"

"Yes sir, but...," Fukutan said, shaking a little. "You see, err...she kind of went off to find Hyuuga and Nogi..."

"This is bad; make sure that no one gets out the hospital grounds!" Hi-sama ordered. "I want Sono to be protected too: his in a very delicate stage at the moment, everyone must be protected, Alice Academy is weak at the moment and the 'Zeros' might strike. Who knows this is the work of 'That person!'"

Narumi seemed to twitch by those words.

"Fukutan!" exclaimed hi-sama.

"Yes sir!?" Fukutan replied, tentatively.

"Anyone else missing or hurt?"

"Well... Sakurano Shūichi, his being treated at the moment, for some reason, he couldn't escape the fire with his instant teleportation Alice; doctors told me it was because he was weak and his body is badly burnt now, luckily one of our High school division rescued him on time," answered Fukutan.

"Who did?" Hi-sama asked.

"Imai Subaru, sir..."

Hi-sama nodded as if he were contemplating something. Then he asked:

"Ok, anymore news?"

"Well...there are a few anonymous people who have been burnt badly, but I'm afraid Persona- sensei's explanation for being absent for the meeting is because Ibaragi Nobara, the Ice Princess is being operated, she has burned her back quite badly and Persona agreed to helping out. I have no idea whether this piece of information is true but the doctors were the ones whom informed me."

Hi-sama sighed. All the teachers exchanged worried glances.

"Poor girl...," Hi-sama quietly said. "OK then, I will adjourn this meeting now, everyone, Faculty members should help through this horrible calamity and try to save as much lives as possible. We will need to send the students back to their homes for a while, considering the fact that Alice Academy needs to be rebuilt and I will not, by all means possible, close the school by this upheaval."

Everyone gasped.

"Sir!" exclaimed Narumi. "For all we know, they might runaway while we send them back!"

"True, some really hate the academy and they might make a run for it!" Serina Yamada said.

"What do you suppose we should do then?" Hi-sama asked, gallantly.

"I suggest we shelter them somewhere, the parents need not know this for they will surely put up a fight," Makihara suggested.

"Very well planned Makihara-san, but have you ever considered the price we would pay for over, maybe six thousand children, including ourselves?"

Makihara sighed, then Serina Yamada stood up and said:

"I suggest we send the children home and put on surveillance each home, that way we could make sure none of them flee."

"Yes!" Makihara said, sarcastically. "And what would we do when they find out, putting on takes time you know, they might wonder what we would be doing!" Serina shot Makihara a look of annoyance and she stifled and continued to rub her crystal ball.

"I think we should shelter the most important students of Alice Academy and send home the ones we don't think could be threats to the Academy's reputation and secret." Narumi recommended.

"Everyone raise your hands if you think this is a good idea." Hi-sama stated.

The conversation went on and on until everyone finally agreed to Narumi's idea. And so, it was decided. Sakura Mikan would be sent home, with an exception, Imai Hotaru would follow her to keep an eye over her and Yuu Tobita would be sent to a

special shelter along with Shoda Sumirei, Koizumi Luna, Nonoko Ogasawara, Anna Umenomiya, Wakako Usami, Hoshio

Hoshino, Mochiage-kun, and a few others until Alice Academy was reconstructed. Till then, teachers began to search for

Hyuuga Natsume and Nogi Ruka and Sakura Mikan, Shoda Sumirei, and Koizumi Luna.


	4. Chapter 4 The Strange Aura

**Disclaimer:**  
I do not own Gakuen Alice, I merely wrote a fan-fiction for it.  
**Information:**  
Hello there, as I drifted away, writing about what the faculty members and staff of Alice Academy were talking about, I may have kept you in suspense for great deal of time, you know...about what happened between Natsume, Ruka and Luna. Oh, and in this chapter, I still continue to write in first-point-of-view. Well, I hope you'll enjoy reading this new chapter. 'Tata'!

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**Chapter 4**

**The Strange Aura**

"Look at your ugly eyes!" Luna leered. "They're still like your awful mother's ones, and your stupid little sister's eyes."

I cringed, I could feel Natsume's anger rising. He clenched his fists and I could hear his knuckles crack.

"What if I tell her you've left her, after you runaway, how would she feel?"

"Shut up, dirt bag!" Natsume retorted, his colour rising.

"Poor Aoi, she'll break into a million pieces if I tell her, and we'll need to throw her away!" Luna scoffed, despicably. "It'll be

fun living in the streets; I think that slut deserves it!" She added, grinning; making Natsume angry wouldn't have done her

any good, but I knew she was just stalling till backup came. Yet, I stood there, useless. I couldn't even move. The worst thing

was we were in a room together with an Alice that could suck out one's soul.

"You're so ugly when you talk, Idiot!" spitted Natsume. At this, I couldn't help but feel that saying those words were pointless

and would only make things worse. My heart leapt off my chest as Luna ran towards Natsume with a great speed: she raised

her right hand, her fingers were straightened and she slapped Natsume's left cheek fiercely. Natsume fell on his knees, he

was too weak to have dodged her slap and he coughed.

"Oh dear, I must have forgotten my manners!" Luna said with one hand on her mouth: despite the fact that anyone would

have hated this action, she did it daintily.

I tried to grab her on the back of her shoulders but she was too quick, she slid off her right side and punched me on the face

so roughly that I had to spit out a little blood to keep myself from swallowing it. Natsume saw this, and his eyes turned a

burnt sienna colour, the pupils of his eyes contracted and adrenaline seemed to flood his brain as he stood up. He had a

murderous look on his expression: I wiped off the blood from my mouth.

"Hurting me is fine...," Natsume said, quietly but it was a more alarming sound than when one would hear someone shout or

roar. "But I won't forgive you for hurting my friends..." And as he finished saying the last line, a strange aura had surrounded

the room. It was hot and blazing: Natsume held out his right hand pointing it towards Koizumi. She looked as traumatized as

I was as the aura around the room combined into one in the air and formed the shape of a red, golden dragon.

The dragon was blistering with flames around him, but the strange thing was that the flames did not burn anything near him

and one could not feel its flames but its presence seemed to make one feel terrified. It was the most terrifying and yet the

most beautiful thing I had ever seen. The light it produced was so great that made the whole room surrounded with blinding

brightness.

It swept through the room and went through Koizumi's chest, it did not seem to burn her, but her expression had become weak as it passed through her and went out through her back. It did nothing to harm her flesh, but her soul, regarding the

fact she held more than one in her possession, it would have hurt her more than an average person. In a blink of an eye, she

collapsed, the red aura that took the form of a dragon disappeared as Natsume himself fell on his knees once more. I was

dazed, my mouth was gaping and I couldn't move my body or even twitch a finger. What had happened just now was too

incredible to take in or overcome.

"Natsume!" I said, still in shock, my mouth ajar. "What the heck happened?" I asked, I supported him as he collapsed.

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What natsume produced earlier will soon be explained in due course.

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**Third-person-point-of-view:**

In Hospital's Main Hall (All the students are gathered there for a meeting, only this time with the students):

"OK, everyone gather round!" Narumi-sensei announced, smiling: though everyone knew it was fake.

"What happened to Natsume-kun and Ruka-pyon, Narumi-sensei?" Anna Umenomiya asked as she held both of her hands

clenched on her bottom lip: it was like one would see in the act of praying; only her eyes were wide-open.

"And where's Koizumi-san?" Kokoro Yome asked, still optimistic, though everyone hated it.

"Well...we're on it, they might still be somewhere around here, faculty members are still searching...," Narumi said, positively.

"But we've been searching too!" Nonoko Ogasawara spluttered. "And we haven't seen them!"

"We know that Mikan and Sumirei are OK, but we haven't seen Natsume-kun and Ruka-pyon all night!"

"SILENCE!" bellowed Jinno-sensei, whom managed to pass through the crowd and came in front of the pack of noisy children. Everyone grew very silent.

There was a pause, and then Mr. Narumi continued:

"OK, I'll to go to the point, Alice academy is in a very critical stage right now… and I'm afraid we might need to send some of

you to shelters at the moment, we will do so by tomorrow."

Everyone gasped.

"Does this mean that Alice Academy is closing?" asked Hoshio Hoshino, his voice cracking.

"No…," Narumi-sensei said quietly. "Hi-sama is determined by all means possible to rebuild the school no matter how much

time or money it might cost. However, it will certainly take a long time to repair such damage; indeed, it will take a very long

time…."

Kaoru Nendo raised his hand for permission to speak, Narumi-sensei nodded.

"You said 'some' might be sent to special shelters, does that mean not all of us will be sent?" Kaoru asked.

"Well, I'm afraid, we have to sent some of you home… we cannot provide for everyone, considering the fact we're using the

money to rebuild the school. " Narumi-sensei answered. Several people shrieked in excitement, some gasped with shock.

"Then…will I be sent home?" Kaoru asked, looking edgy.

"I'm afraid, you will be sheltered…," Narumi sensei replied a little hesitantly. Kaoru's mouth gaped, with disappointment and

with fear.

"Why must I be sheltered?" he asked, he sounded close to tears.

"Yeah! Why must you make exceptions!?" Hayate Matsudaichi stammered indifferently.

"All of us want to go home!" Tsubasa-senpai yelled along with the crowd, as they protested.

Narumi looked futile as the crowd of children continued to reason out. Jinno-sensei flicked his metal rod on the air and lighting

streamed out of the tip and gave the children a minor shock. The crowd grew silent once more.

"Well you see…we make exceptions because we…we…um…we think that some students are of more value- not to get me

wrong, all of you are special but we need to shelter those whom need special attention…," said Narumi-sensei, looking wretched.

"How about those Alice that are like Kaname-senpai!?" Misaki-senpai asked.

"They will be will transferred to another special hospital in Tokyo after this week…," Jinno-sensei replied. "Those who have

been injured by the fire will be cared for, for now, this discussion is finish and we have decided that everyone will be sharing

hospital bedrooms for the night. Five girls in each room and four boys in each, the girls will be staying in the topmost floors

and the boys will stay on lower ground. I declare this meeting adjourned, get ready for sleep, every one of you.

"Fukutan!" ordered Jinno-sensei, in his stern voice. Fukutan-sensei responded with a salute. "Lead these children to their

rooms; I'm going to get myself ready for a search…."

"Yes, Jinno-san!" Fukutan-sensei complied.

As Fukutan-sensei started gathering children and arranging them in a row, Jinno-sensei slid off the hall and disappeared from

their sight.

"This is outrageous!" stuttered Akira Tonouchi. "What kinda sick maniac would want Alice Academy to get to this state?"

"Careful now, Tono!" Tsubasa-senpai warned. "You're not saying Natsume did this, are you?"

Misaki-senpai smacked the back of Tsubasa's head and said, "Hypocrite!"

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**First-person-point-of-view: Mikan**

I halted my steps as I stopped to take a pant. I was sweating all over, my head felt dizzy and I supported myself by holding

onto a pillar. I was in the topmost floor of the hospital, I felt slightly guilty for not attending the meeting in the main hall of the

hospital, and it might have been an important one.

I sat down on the floor, panting heavily.

_"Darn Natsume! Where are you Ruka-pyon, Natsume-kun?" _I thought as I wiped the sweat off my forehead with my hand. I

was sleepy and frustrated.

After a moment or two, I stood up and continued to search once more. Room plate numbers, which were drilled on

the top center of each door, buzzed one by one. I checked each one of them, I would sneak a quick look inside each room

then, if it was empty I would proceed to the next door, examining to see whether they locked or not, I would turn each

doorknob.

Finally, I came to the room number one hundred (100). I turned the doorknob; it was locked, so I was forced to carry on to

the next door. The door's plate number read:

"Room 101 Special Star…"

I turned the doorknob, it clicked, and then I slowly swung the door open. As the light from the empty hallway shone into the

dark room, to my great astonishment, there stood Natsume-kun and Ruka-pyon, and Koizumi Luna lay on the floor. Our eyes

met, and we came to a stop. My heart stopped beating for a second and I stood there, frozen. For once, I saw Natsume's

eyes completely widen and Ruka was just as dazed.

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**lHEHE, well that's it for this chapter, I will update soon.l**

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** Copyright/or DO NOT STEAL, Honey R.K.**


	5. Chapter 5 Farewell Embraces

'_I looked into his deep red eyes, that, if I'm mistaken, seemed to soften as he met mine... all fear had vanished as we stared, it was like talking to each other without words, and I felt secure.' _

_I could feel Natsume's pounding heart on mine and we felt each other's warmth._

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Hope you enjoy the new chapter! first-person-point-of-view: Mikan

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**Chapter 5**

**Farewell Embraces**

"Nat...Natsume?" I whispered, as we stared. I couldn't believe my eyes. I looked into his deep red eyes, that, if I'm mistaken,

seemed to soften as he met mine... all fear had vanished as we stared, it was like talking to each other without words, and I

felt secure. I couldn't move, for the first time, I had never been more nervous around him. My heart and head throbbed

heavily. Ruka then whispered:

"Sakura... we...I..." I knew he couldn't talk very well at the situation but I broke eye contact with Natsume the moment he

spoke. I looked at Ruka's dazed face. A rush of happiness poured into me as I looked into Ruka's dazzling eyes.

"Ruka-pyon!" I shrieked and my eyes began to water. I ran into Ruka's arms and I embraced him, I was too nervous to do so towards Natsume as he looked away. Ruka embraced me back and I wept onto his shoulder. Finally, as I began to sober up, I

turned my head to look at Natsume. I couldn't see his eyes properly for it was too dark; he had shut the door behind me as I hugged Ruka. I was so happy to see them both, but I couldn't express this feeling towards Natsume. Ruka still held my back

and we both put our heads on the other's shoulder.

"If I'm interrupting...," Natsume said very quietly. "We have to go Ruka..."

Ruka and I broke apart from each other's grip as Natsume stared at both of us.

"I'm...I'm sorry...," Ruka told me, as I only began to realize what I had just done. My cheeks burned as I blushed; I might

have looked like a tomato in the darkness. But then something caught my eye, I just remembered Koizumi Luna lay on the

floor. I directed my pointed finger at her and I cried:

"LU-LUNA!" Natsume and Ruka both shove their hands on my mouth, keeping me from shouting. But I was confused, why

were they being so secretive.

"Shut up, baka!" Natsume snapped through gritted teeth.

"What in the world happened to her!?" I asked, shocked: Luna's face was lying against the wall, it was a very scary sight.

"She...she tried to stop us from running away!" Ruka explained.

I looked at him as if he had gone mad.

"What the- what do you mean runaway?" I asked, I sobbed. "Both of you are going to leave us in this mess? I spent three

hours looking for you just to see you guys leave?" I faltered, as I looked from Ruka to Natsume. I felt dizzy, my head throbbed. All the hope that poured into me had vanished and the thoughts of Natsume burning the Academy had entered my

mind, I looked into Natsume face with as much contempt as I could. "Natsume... why?" I asked him.

Natsume did not look into my tearful eyes. There was a pause and a stunning silence, but it was soon broken as Natsume

spoke:

"Don't cry, idiot, it makes you look uglier!"

I suddenly remembered that Hotaru had said the very same thing to me, but this did not help; I rubbed my eyes with my

sleeve as I burst into tears. Ruka grabbed my arm and hugged me from the back I restrained myself from crying. I didn't want

to lose Ruka-pyon and Natsume-kun.

Natsume gripped onto Ruka's shoulder, Ruka looked up into his eyes, and very slowly, he let me loose from his squeeze.

Then, looking into my eyes, Ruka said, "good bye...Mikan..."

I looked at him with shock, it was the first time he had ever uttered my first name: I felt my cheeks burn.

"WAIT!" I shouted. Natsume looked back.

"What is it?" natsume replied.

"What about Luna-san?" I asked, exasperated.

"She'll be fine, lying down there!" Natsume replied.

He and Ruka began to walk out into the window, Ruka went first, and it was as if he couldn't look me into the eye anymore as he walked out without giving me a glance. Natsume said nothing but climbed into the open window and made his

way out. I felt useless, I know if I tried to stop them, my attempt would be futile, so I stood there, watching them leave, without a good bye from Natsume. I saw them vanish from my sight as they proceeded towards the entrance gates.

"WHAT AM I DOING?" I said to myself. "I should go stop them!"

I knew that chasing them would be useless but nevertheless, I did. I climbed into the window and I found myself at a small

veranda; which was tiled with marble and looked very elegant. My face began to drain from its entire colour as I saw how high up I really was, "I could even see the northern forest from here!" I thought to myself, as I turned into a blue colour.

Natsume and Ruka were climbing down from the walls, stepping down onto each terrace one by one and proceeding downwards.

"ARE THEY CRAZY!?" I thought as they did this process in a great speed. Natsume had a great deal of experience in running away as I looked below from the edge veranda's pillars: I felt sick by the height we were in. But I thought that if I didn't take

the risk, that would be the risk in itself. So I began to climb down from the solid rafters of the Hospitals building (this was the way Natsume and Ruka started off), one by one I stepped onto each terrace, trying my best not to look down: I was never

good at heights.

Ruka and Natsume spotted me, as I was several terraces higher than them. A look of utter astonishment etched on their faces; they almost fell because of this.

"Damn you polka-dot!" bellowed Natsume. I ignored him and I continued to race them. Natsume and Ruka did not stop climbing, though Ruka had persisted that they stop but Natsume wouldn't have given in, therefore, we raced to the very

bottom. Finally, after climbing terrace after terrace, after balconies and rafters, we sloped down onto the grass on the ground floor of back of the hospital: we faced the entrance to the forest. We panted; we were all dehydrated and sleepy. Ruka and

Natsume looked at me, stunned. Natsume brought himself to his fullest height and began to scold me:

"WHY THE HECK DID YOU DO THAT FOR!?" Natsume bellowed, hammering the top of my head with his clenched fists.

"I- I...I didn't want both of you to leave us without a goodbye to everybody!" I stammered.

"Oh, so I suppose we should tell everyone we're gonna runaway? 'Oh, everyone! We're going to runaway now, bye-bye!" Natsume scoffed: Ruka was trying to stop us from arguing but we ignored him. "How stupid can you get!?"

"I'M NOT STUPID!" I retorted. "Why are you guys running away anyway?" I asked, looking furious. Then, my eyes widened as

the question popped into my mind. I then asked, very scared, "Did...did you cause the fire?"

Natsume looked at me, his eyes widened with anger. He gripped both of my shoulders and with an expression of total

disbelief and rage, he said:

"Why would I cause danger to the person whom I care about more than anything else in the world?" he told, I could feel his

clasped hands tighten on my shoulders. I didn't fully understand if it was it me he was talking about, or Ruka?

A rustling noise came from the back of the place we stood and I could hear Jinno-sensei's voice and a few others that I couldn't distinct. Natsume pulled away his grip from my shoulder.

"Ruka!" Natsume whispered, run into the middle part of the woods, wait for me there!"

And with a glance at Natsume and I, Ruka darted off towards the black thicket one would call the forest. Natsume grabbed my arm and we darted off into the forest too, only through a different direction. We hid under some leaves and trees as the

search team made their way to the spot where we stood earlier: Natsume shut my mouth with his hand and I dared not struggle.

We had a clear view of the teacher that was in the search party. Mr. Narumi was one of them, Makihara-sensei, Misaki-sensei, Noda-sensei, and as mentioned before, Jinno-sensei. They buzzed with conversation as they continued to search for, as I

would guess, Ruka-pyon and the idiot whom is covering my mouth: Natsume.

"Darn those kids!" grunted Jinno-sensei. "They only know nothing but trouble! I swear when I get my hands on Miss Shoda and Miss Sakura, I'll shock them till they bleed!"

Natsume's hands tightened on my mouth as sensei said these words. We hid there, in the dark; I could feel Natsume's breath on my cheek: He looked sickly and exhausted.

"Now now...Narumi-sensei said. "They're just kids, and they're helping out in the search anyway..."

"Well I promise you!" Jinno-sensei snapped. "I am going ask a favour from persona to beat Hyuuga's butt when we find him!"

"We don't even know whether he's alive...," Narumi-sensei said very quietly.

They advanced to the next area and they disappeared from our sight. Natsume grabbed my hand as we stood up and he looked like he was contemplating.

"Natsume...," I said in a hushed, trembling voice. "Why do you want to runaway...?" I asked. He turned to look at me and abruptly, he seized my hand and we started running deeper into the woods: we were battered by twigs, branches and leaves along the

way. I didn't want to pull away from Natsume's grip, I somehow, liked it. It was so similar, almost exactly the same, to the time he took my hand in the sports festival: he doesn't know that I recognized his touch. Natsume always held my hand by

the wrist whenever we were in trouble but tonight, he held my palm, gently but firmly.

We stopped dead on our tracks. I got so use to the running that I noticed this too slow. Before I could ask what Natsume stopped for he turned to face me and he pulled me towards him, he embraced me, it was a tighter hug than Ruka's. I was

taken aback by his sudden act, but I too, held out my arms and I held his back and we stood there. Our bodies held close to each other. Natsume was silent and so was I: I could feel Natsume's pounding heart on mine and we felt each other's warmth.

There will be more, but right now I'm too busy to write.


	6. Chapter 6 Yellow Strings

**Chapter Six**

**Yellow Strings**

Natsume's squeeze grew tighter as tried to pull away from his grasp. I breathed so heavily, it was hard to tell whether what was happening was real; I wish it were all a bad dream. But somehow, I didn't want to let go of Natsume's arms, in the same time I wanted to pull away. The forest was thick with crisp air that was scented by the fragrance of moss, dewy leaves, and

earth: the smell reached my nostrils and I heaved an inaudible sigh. We both stood on a damp area, where grass stood as tall as wheat stalks. I felt Natsume's slow-paced breathing on my neck and his warmth seemed to warm my whole body- top to bottom, as we clinged to each other: one very warm hand clasped on my back and another stroking my hair. We did not speak, and there was a dead

silence except for the rustling of the tree branches swaying and beating each other by the wind, and the sound of crickets chirping.

Slowly, we grew apart, Natsume pushing me away from his clutch my shoulders. He took hold of my hand, softer than he had done before. We stood there, gazing at each other's eyes, red to brown. Then, still gazing at me, he took out from his pocket two bright yellow cotton strings and he tied one onto his own finger beside his long pinkie finger, he wrapped round

and then knotted it, making it look like a ring. He drew the second yellow string towards me. He then said, with a low, flat voice that seemed unlike his usual tone:

"Will you put on this string as a sign of our betrothing?"

I didn't know the meaning of the word, but I dared not ask. I lifted my right hand a little hesitantly. He wrapped the string on my finger beside my pinkie just as he had done to his own finger

and when he finished, he drew nearer to me and our lips met. It was so fast I didn't understand what was happening. The kiss may have lasted for over half an hour or so, but this time I did not want to part. I kissed him back and it was as if the whole world seemed to vanish from our surroundings. After a long time, we parted and natsume turned his back on me and said:

"Don't tell anyone you saw me...," He left me standing there and he darted off deeper into the woods but after a few steps he came to a halt and without turning back to look at me, he whispered, "...wait for me..."

I couldn't reply, I could hardly even move. The darkness swallowed up natsume and he vanished from sight. From that day on, I vowed never to remove the yellow string he had wrapped around my finger.

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An extremely short chapter, but I will update soon!

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	7. Chapter 7 Power Plant Problem

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.**

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**Chapter Seven**

**Power Plant Problem**

**T**he night was chilly, I could feel the cold coming up my feet as Is sat down on the ground. The grass was damp and cold, and I snugged under my jacket. The trees were rustling and the crickets were chirping. The air was still, but there was something in the atmosphere that gave me a chill: not related to the cold. I wondered where Natsume was. Where was he? I grumbled a little as my stomach growled. I hadn't eaten a single thing all morning, and I couldn't sleep either! I checked my watch, it showed 4:34.

"Where are you Natsume!?" I thought, still grumbling under my breath. There was a rustle among the trees and before I knew it, Natsume appeared, drawing away branches as he walked toward me: I was greatly relived but still shocked. Natsume looked at me solemnly as though he carried a great burden and we stared for a moment. the silence was broken:

"I thought we'd be meeting up a the middle of the forest?" Natsume mumbled and I stood up.

"But this _is_ the middle of the forest!" I answered back with as much contempt as I could manage, but ended up in a dumb-founded voice.

"No, this is the end of the forest!" Natsume said, pulling out something from his bag. "Never mind," he said quietly. "have you taken your breakfast yet?" he asked.

"No...," I began. "I haven't any in my bag..."

"You haven't check the left pocket?"

I scurried for my bag then unzipped the left pocket which I thought to be empty but found out there were two long sticks of cream cheese wrapped in cling wrap and a small packet of Japanese crackers. I nearly squealed for delight as I pulled them out. Natsume had done the same but wasn't quite pleased as I was. we sat down and I munched happily as we sat down to eat our break fast, I glanced at Natsume, he looked vivid and vague not caring much about his food. I chewed carefully and swallowed then I asked:

"What's the matter?"

"What?" was his reply.

"I don't know, you don't seem yourself..."

Then the thought hit me, in my hunger I forgot I left Natsume with Sakura. What might have happened last night that made Natsume so vague. I wonder how Mikan was doing, will I ever see her again after we run away? Perhaps it will still be the same, maybe we'd be caught and be thrown back into the Academy. I couldn't bear the thought of Mikan, so i switched the subject into a different thought: though it wasn't any better.

"What shall we do, how do we escape?" I asked Natsume, who shove back his crackers and cheese stick into his bag, apparently he wasn't hungry.

"We will leave before dawn, if we escape now we won't be caught easily. I suppose we should make out escape by air, that we we won't have to climbed over the wall and trigger any alarm system." Natsume stated, hastily. "Come on, summon your eagle so that we may move!"

"But haven't we tried that before?" I said. "We might get caught."

"Not this time, we won't be caught: not when all the security systems are fried and only the underground alarms work at the moment. Make sure your eagle doesn't make a sound for it is sure to rise the suspicions of the of the faculty, and get him on stealth." Natsume said wisely.

"Okay, but what about the barrier above the sky, the force field is sure to work." I pointed out, gravely. Natsume contemplated for a wile and I too, had to mull over that one.

"Right, we'll set it the power plant off first!" Natsume said. "Now we must hurry! We have lost a great deal of time after this little chatter!"

I nodded as a response and I whistled quietly under my breath, summoning my eagle. There wasn't a response for a while, but as always, he came eventually: flapping it's majestic wings and coming swiftly towards us, carefully and quietly. He swept through the horizon and and made it's landing in front of us. He poked me and I stroked it's feathers. We mounted him and carefully, as to not hurt him, I grabbed onto his hind neck. He spread out his wings and stomping one leg on the ground he made enough pressure to take flight and very soon, we were on air. Natsume grabbed onto my back securing his bag with another hand.

The morning was young and a faint, tiny hint of pink and orange glow appeared in the sky and the air was crisp as it pushed against our faces, blowing our hair wildly. The forest seemed to blur below us as we gained speed and the hills sloped higherand higher as we made our way deeper into the forest. natsume explained that the power plant lay somewhere beyond the forest and that it was forbdden for students to enter it.

"We must stay low, and we musn't go too slow...," Natsume said time to time. Finally, he ordered for me to land his eagle down on a slope below and to make a quiet landing.

"Natsume," I began before landing.

"Yeah?" he said.

"What happens to the hospital when we shut down the power system?"

Without even hesitating, Natsume replied, "There are different switches and fuses. They built the power plant in a way that if one switch shall fail, there will be backup."

Apparently, Natsume had out a great deal amount of thinking and I replied a simple, "Oh..."

Without further ado, we landed safely and quietly on a slope close to a small building: which would be the power plant, and we I told the eagle to wait for us and hide until we come out. We walked through the silver beeches and tall evergreens, pushing them aside with much difficulty. I asked Natsume why we hadn't landed directly beside the power plant building and he answered, simply, "It would be too risky."

After a moment's difficulty, we made our way to an open area, and there, standing upright and surrounded by metal fences, stood the power plant building. It was an oval shape from the sky's point of view but on the ground it took a shape of a dome. It was painted white and didn't look very interesting as it sounded. I nearly touched the fence when Natsume took hold of my hand a pointed at the sign I didn't notice a while ago. It read:

"Hazard, Danger!" and below the sign, there was a symbol of lightning and electricity. Perhaps if one was to touch it, he'd be electrocuted or shocked with a nasty current of electricity. From that moment on we had to think a way to get through the fence. I thought may be could use the eagle but Natsume thought of t as a bad

idea so I gave in. We were irresolute for a while until, Natsume suggested that if he burned the fence and made a hole n the middle, we might just be able to jump in safely. But I denied the idea for making flames wasn't a very wise thing to do in the middle of a thick forest, furthermore, we had no water to put it out if anything should happen. Finally we had to agree to use the eagle. I thought this to be quite impertinent of Natsume, but after all, there was no other way.

So once more we mounted the eagle and he took off but we weren't on the air for too long for our destination was only a short way. We thought perhaps some alarm was going to trigger if we landed on the ground so Natsume, to experiment, threw a stone on the ground on the inside of the fenced-area. But no alarm triggered. So we

anded safely inside the forbidden area: it was mossy and the tall grass was damp. The eagle set off back to the place I told him to hide and we made our way into the domed-building. Rogues though we were, we were doing it for a good reason. As we opened an amazingly small door, we found the inside bigger than the way looked like outside.

And in the middle of the room, we saw a large machine full of switches, levers, and control sticks. No body else was in there except for us. Natsume looked round for any hidden cameras that could have been set and checked to see if there were any alarms od the floor, until it was thoroughly safe, we entered. Now that we finally

made it inside, the annual problem now was, which switch should we shut down? But we weren't wondering for long as we spied a lever and below it a small sign read, "Security: Main Entrance."

I checked my watch, and it showed 5:21. Very soon the sun would rise fully and our escape would be a harder if it had done so.

Natsume very carefully pulled down the lever and we continued out. Leaving the dome and I whistled for my eagle. He appeared shortly and we mounted him once more, taking off toward the main entrance of the Alice Academy.

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**_ This fanfiction will be updated soon. Fanfiction by Honey R.K._**

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	8. Chapter 8 Outside World Once More

**Chapter Eight**

**Outside World Once More**

It was 7:50 at the morning and Mikan woke up with a start. Hotaru had blasted her with her baka-gun, and she awoke rubbing the back of her head. Hotaru stared at her and solemnly said:  
"What with the face?" She began. "Come on! You're late; everyone has gathered at the main hall of the hospital already. Now get up!"

"Why are we gathering at the main hall?" Mikan asked peevishly, stretching her arms and yawning. A strange series of events had happened to her last night and she could hardly believe any of them. Then, with a heavy heaved sigh, she washed herself and got dressed and slowly followed her friend. Clearly, she didn't have much energy and she was still dreadfully sleepy. The door closed behind with a noisy squeak.

"Are we heading to the main hall, Hotaru?" Mikan asked her best friend.

"No," Hotaru said simply.

"What?" Mikan gasped, puzzled. "But, didn't you say-"

"Change of plan, Mr. Narumi's idea."

"-so then, only we're going to attend the meeting at the hall or what?" asked Mikan very confused indeed.

"Yes, I'm not sure about the plan but it's our last hope." Hotaru said gravely and Mikan began to look frightened.

"What...what do you mean by... last hope?"

"No time to explain, come, we must run to the hospitals back entrance!" Hotaru snapped, seizing Mikan's hand and pulling her roughly as she ran.

Natsume and Ruka were nowhere to be found that morning and the faculty members had suspected he and his companion, Nogi Ruka had shut down the security systems at night and made a quick escape. No one knew this except the staff, but none of them knew that one genius had already known of their secret plan. A great deal of children was gathered up in the main hall of the hospital and only Mikan and Hotaru weren't yet, as I told you. But a commotion had started among the children.

"OK, I'm damn worried now!" scowled Mochiage-kun. "Where the heck is Natsume-kun and Ruka-kun?"

Anna burst into tears and Nonoko-chan embraced her friend comfortingly, patting her back as Anna sobbed.

Sumirei had been searching all night and the faculty members found her lying on the grass that morning and they dragged her safely back to the hospital. She sulked and sobbed all night and morning and had given up trying to look for Natsume. She was ill at the moment and she couldn't attend the meeting.

"I hate this!" Cried Nonoko-chan. "Who could have started the fire!?" and she too burst into tears. No one could help but cry themselves; even some little boys began to weep along with the girls. Anna-chan rubbed her knuckles on her eyes and wiped off her tears with her sleeve.

"Where do we sleep now?" began Yome Kokoro, who tried as much as possible not to cry. "We can't possibly stay here forever?"

"And a lot of us had lost a great deal of things from our bedrooms! My passport must be burnt down to pieces now!" exclaimed Misaki-senpai.

"Don't worry; I think the faculty members know what to do!" Said Tsubasa-senpai and patted Misaki-senpai on her shoulder.

"That's right!" Said a voice behind them, and as they realized it was Jinno-sensei, they bowed their heads as he placed himself in front of all the children. He was shocked because he saw how much children there really were in Alice Academy all together. He took a deep breath and announced:

"All the children here in Alice Academy will be sent to some shelters and host homes and some will be sent home in a contract that they may not runaway or else they will be sued." began Jinno sensei. There were several gaps and cries of joy and shock. "Now, please reply when I call out your names."

A lot of children from the elementary section were called to stand at the right side of Jinno-sensei and announced that would be placed in shelters. As he said this, they all cried and some begged to go home but Jinno-sensei pulled out his lightning stick and they became silent, weeping and crying. Then he called Mikan-chan, but there was no answer and Jinno-sensei looked

frustrated and carried on to the next set of children. I feel inclined to tell you whom was sent home and who weren't but I think you'd only sleep in the process so I'll skip this part and forward it to Mikan and Hotaru's scene.

Mikan panted as Hotaru dragged her and she stumbled slightly.

"Hotaru-chan!" stammered Mikan frustratedly. "I'm not lame, I can walk for myself!"

"I know that," Hotaru began quietly. "But you're stupid."

Mikan scowled and continued towards the endless streams of halls and corridors. A few students stared at them but Hotaru did not come to a stand-still to have any conversation nor did she want to. Finally, they entered the last corridor and they slipped towards the back door of the hospital. After closing the door behind her, Hotaru let go of Mikan's hand and said:

"Now, I'll explain the situation slowly..."

"What?" Mikan interrupted.

"Shut up and listen," Hotaru snapped and continued,"We are going to be sent to an awful shelter but Mr. Narumi doesn't want that, he wants us to get away quietly. The faculty members won't let us go home because of our Alices. Instead, they will send us in a different shelter than others, much more worse than a military boot camp.

"Mr.Narumi won't allow this, so he's already set up an escape for us. This time, the situation is so horrible that it is possible we might be killed because of this information"

Mikan looked at Hotaru with horror.

"But... but why?" Mikan asked, aghast.

"Because they believe you know something about Nogi and Hyuuga, plus you have a dangerous Alice. Mikan, you know where Natsume is right?"

"I- I don't know-But I won't use my Alice for bad reasons!" bellowed Mikan, sobbing. Hotaru clasped her her hands on Mikan's mouth.

"Are you crazy, don't yell, Baka!" Hotaru hissed. "

There was a rustle between the leaves and Hotaru and Mikan froze. Mr. Narumi's figure appeared soon enough and Hotaru sighed with relief. "Are you ready?" Mr.

Narumi asked, panting but he stood up straight and fearless. "We have very little time left..."

"Yes, sensei!" Hotaru replied.

"Have your passports, money, and identification?" Narumi checked.

"Yes..."

"Mikan's too?"

"Yes, sensei, can we move on?" Hotaru stammered, looking impatient.

"OK, OK, have you got your shape-shifting candy?" Mr. Narumi asked Hotaru.

"Yes!" Hotaru replied, almost retorting.

"OK, put them in your mouth but don't swallow them!" Mr. Narumi said hastily. Searching for some certain papers in his brown-leather bag.

Mikan watched the two of them as Hotaru slipped a wrapped candy onto her hand. Many events were happening too fast and she couldn't speak a word. She felt left out, an outcast and a fugitive. She knew Mr. Narumi was only trying to help but what would she do? At least Hotaru would be going with her, but where will they

go? Certainly not Grandpa's house, she would bring a whole barrel of problems to an old man and if anything would happen to him because of her, she would never feel happy again.

Mr. Narumi found the papers he was looking for and slid each of them into Hotaru's and Mikan's hand. They were fake identification forms that only faculty members and staff of Alice Academy obtained. And Mr. Narumi slid them each a pass-card.

"Take this to the entrance after you've shape-shifted into those people and then swipe your card onto the machine that will open the gates. This is the safest way of escape at day but you must tell the security that you are going for a big meeting at Tokyo's secret board of education. They will believe this because there is such a thing."

Hotaru nodded.

"Hotaru, you do the talking!" Mr, Narumi commanded. "And Mikan, please just reply yes and no!"

"OK...," both said at the same time.

"Now, you must stick to the names of your fake identification form, don't worry about the real people, they're my job to worry about!" Mr. Narumi said, and added, "Good luck..."

"Wait!" Mikan called out to the blond bishounen.

Mr. Narumi turned his attention towards Mikan. Her face flushed with hot trickling tears as she said:

"You're not coming with us?" she asked.

"I'm afraid not...," Mr. Narumi said solemnly,

"But why!?" burst Mikan, sobbing.

"I...I can't, there are a million reasons why I can't come with you..."

"But you once asked me whether we could escape together!" stammered Mikan.

"That was when I was desperate!" snapped Mr. Narumi. "Mikan, you'll die if I come with you, and I mean it!"

Mikan clenched her fist and rubbed her knuckles against her eyes. Mr. Narumi stooped low infront of her and hugged her tightly.

"You were my most favourite student...," he whispered. "And I love you as if you were my daughter...but times are changing, someday, and it will happen, you will know the truth..."

And with that last sentence Mr. Narumi left the two of them standing there. It took quite sometime for Mikan to recover from the shock but after a while they had shape-shifted into Alice Academy staff and they had done exactly what Mr. Narumi told them to do and though it was hard at first, it was a success. Hotaru explained

on the way that since the security was not that tight, there won't be anyone to inspect them so all they had to do is swipe their pass-cards and they gates opened for them. Very soon, they were in the outside world once more. Mikan felt like she was missing something. They hadn't said good-bye and it didn't feel good to leave your dear ones.


	9. Chapter 9 The Beginning of a New Era

**The Beginning of a New Era**

"Dumby!" you let them go just like that without confirmation!" roared Hi-sama. Indeed he was very much angry with the security guard.

"Sir...I can't explain it but it seemed like he really did have an identification card. I...I...couldn't refuse!"

"How can an idiot like you work here?" Hi-sama said. The security guard felt low and ashamed.

"You just let them out like that, two of our most important students (of course, hi-sama has no idea even Natsume and Ruka escaped as well)!"

"I'm sorry sir! Please...please accept my deepest apologies!" the man shivered all over and Hi-sama checked himself suddenly, he realized everyone was staring at him, some were shocked for they never seen Hi-sama so angry.

"Nothing can be done now about the past, let's forget it but I never want you to do such a blunder ever again, understand!?" commanded Hi-sama. "Now, go along the other security guards and have the whole of Tokyo searched. I want them here before dawn, clear!?"

"Yes, Boss!" was Sankaji-san's (the name of the security guard) reply and he rushed off, looking dazed and scared.

"Dear me...Narumi-san, I don't believe the escape of Hotaru-sama and Mikan-chan was so easy, it's like a teacher from Alice Academy helped them!" Hi-sama said, turning himself towards Narumi. Narumi jerked slightly and sweated. Deep inside he knew he would be exiled, just like Yuka had been if ever they knew the truth behind this.

"Yes...it is rather amazing..." Narumi said, quietly. "I'm sure it'll be alright, they'll find them sooner or later (he said this rather awkwardly)." Hi-sama nodded smartly.

"How dreadful of Mikan to do such a thing, I can't believe they would backstab us this way!" Sumirei shouted.

"Shush, Sumirei!" Anna-chan said. "You have no idea what's up with her, they must have been in great trouble.

"Are you insane?" scowled Sumirei. "They left without even saying good-bye, those idiots are selfish!" she started crying. "They don't care about us or Natsume-kun or Ruka-kun!"

"Dear, dear, don't cry..." Nonoko-chan started patting Sumirei on the shoulder but she shrugged it off and sat on a lonely corner, sobbing.

"She's so upset...," whispered a few girls.

"Must be because of her boyfriend...," said another girl.

"WHO SAID THAT!?" Screamed Sumirei, apparently she heard the whispers of the two girls. "YOU WANNA A PIECE OF ME!?" her eyes blazed and her whiskers and cat/dog ears puffed up on her face and she snarled. The two girls, looking horrified screamed and ran away, out of sight. The whiskers and ears vanished from Sumirei's face and she sat down once more, and continued to sob. Nonoko-chan, and Anna-chan, along with a few others, sweat-dropped as they turned their attention away from Sumirei.

Though they did not know it, Mikan and Hotaru, Natsume and Ruka were about to revolutionize the whole of Alice Academy. The beginning of a new era was happening as they spoke.

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**Don't miss the next chapter! **

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	10. Chapter 10 A Place For a Night

**Chapter 10 **

**_A Place For a Night _**

Sweaty and tired, two young girls staggered along what seemed an endless road. The sun was up and the heat scorched the white fair skin of the two girls, making them a tanned color. They had been walking for almost half a day.

"I'm parched!" wailed one of the two. Mikan's brown hair looked as if it were about to burn.

"Oh shut up, you're dehydrating yourself by speaking!" said the wisest and cleverer looking girl among the two, Hotaru.

"Well, give me some water to drink then!

"Why aren't you making use of the bottle of water you've packed?"

"I'm saving it!"

"For what?"

"Oh whatever, but don't take too much, we'll need some later!" Hotaru snapped as she handed her a bottle of water she drew out of her backpack.

Mikan took a gulp and she handed it back to Hotaru after having her fill.

The road they were taking was to lead them straight to Mikan's grandfather's house (which was the only thing that kept Mikan walking). Hokkaido's climate was warmer in summer, and it wasn't very pleasant. Although a clear blue sky beckoned above their heads, the wind it blew was far less than inviting. As they walked along, Hotaru guided with her compass and sometimes they would walk across a ranch and catch the sight of cows grazing. There was something oddly calming of seeing grazing bovines, this momentarily distracted Hotaru from her compass.

As the sun began to disappear from the horizon, the two girls were nearing their destination, gladly, they accepted the hospitality of an elderly woman who kindly insisted they stay the night at her place, given that she felt alone most of the time, it was a real treat or her to see youngsters. Her house was simple, with two floors and the inside was beautifully decorated.

"There you go little ones, a hot bowl of Gyudon!" the woman joyfully exclaimed, as she placed a bowl of steaming rice with a generous serving of cooked beef enriched by medium thick gravy. "I figured you two would need a huge serving of protein after you're long travel, and by the way, what are two little girls doing all by themselves?" the elderly woman half scolded and questioned. Mikan and Hotaru didn't want to lie to the woman who in their eyes seemed like an angel from heaven, and so they decided to tell the truth: well…maybe half of the truth.

"We didn't really come alone, we had an escort along the way, well we decided we could take half way and he could go his own way…" Hotaru impressively came out with a white lie almost as good as the way she delivered it. She thought Mikan was too much of a coward to tell a lie to this kind woman and so she felt obliged to do it herself. Mikan just gave a half grin and smile which unfortunately was a dead giveaway.

"No disrespect on my account but I wasn't born yesterday you know, I know you girls did not have an escort and probably didn't have lunch either today." The elder lady, Hachi-san said wisely.

"I'm sorry that my friend is an awful liar…" Hotaru whispered under her breath, Mikan briefly scowled at her direction.

"I'm sorry Hachi-san, we didn't mean to lie to you, we just didn't want anyone to know about our travel affair, we would like to keep a low profile…not that we've done something horrible but because-" Hotaru glared at her for a short moment and Mikan hauled her mouth. "No disrespect, Hachi-san…"

"It's OK, I'm not a type who goes off blabbing or gossiping, and I respect your decision not to tell me anything, so please do eat your food, it's getting cold." Hachi-san smiled warmly.

"Thank you for the food!" the two girls said, and they ravenously gulped down their Gyudon.

After having their dinner the two of them took a hot bath and slept cozily in the guest room upstairs that Hachi-san prepared. They were tremendously grateful for her hospitality and could think of no way to repay her for her kindness and after much said of "thanks" fro Mikan and Hotaru, Hachi-san turned off the lights and said goodnight to the two of them and the exhausted, but thankful girls drifted to sleep as they felt the comfort of a clean and soft bed. Sometime later, a little rain drizzled and the sound of it pit-patting the roof, was in an odd way, very relaxing. This woke Mikan up and she felt something wet between her fingers and realized she hadn't removed the small piece of rope tied into a knot that Natsume had given her and placed on her wedding finger. She didn't take it off while she bathed, that would explain why it was wet.

Natsume…he didn't really mean it when he asked her to be his bride, did he? It couldn't be! They were too young, he was seventeen and she was fifteen. But she turned crimson red as she thought about him, something had changed her feelings for him and she didn't know what it was. Somehow, they were so far apart but it felt as if she could feel his presence within her.

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Somewhere in the forests of another part of Japan, two less fortunate boys struggled to find the little cabin they had been searching for all day. Natsume and Ruka were hungry, wet, and tired from all the walking, According to Natsume, they were in more trouble then they could comprehend and it seemed it was unavoidable. Unlike Hokkaido, this forest had very little communities that were able to provide simple comforts. They had to keep an extremely low profile and could not be seen by anyone, lest they should suffer.

Finally, after a long search, they found the anticipated shelter, though it looked forlorn, it was haven to the two and they quickly got inside. It was a shallow and poorly decorated cabin, with only one toilet that smelled appalling and a small kitchen on the left corner. The floor was made of cherry wood, an expensive luxury to the modern day, but of course it was aged and dirty. Two sleeping bags were wrapped in a tiny closet that stored a few handy things like an umbrella, a raincoat, and a box of fire starters for the fireplace (which are to no use to Natsume, but he stored it anyway if in case Ruka required them). The two dried themselves with towels and immediately got to work, sweeping the floor, cleaning the toilet and preparing some food: they made porridge out of a bag of raw rice they stole from the kitchen pantry from Gakuen Alice. They added some salt and though it wasn't a feast, it was enough to satisfy them.

"Ruka, you better start learning to eat meat, cuz I'm gonna' get some hunting done…" Natsume remarked as they settled for sleep.

"No way Natsume, I can get the animals to search food for us; don't you remember I can do that?"

"The heck with it, I'm starving for meat."

The two chuckled and they shifted the positions, facing opposite directions. Not one of them would admit who they had been thinking about. Natsume couldn't help but think about Mikan, but he felt so exhausted, he decided not to, and yet, that made him even more restless. He sighed, and remembered about his string ring he gave her. He felt so stupid but in the same time so relieved, he felt as if a burden had been lifted ff his shoulders. It was wrong for him to think so but he felt like he had won her over Ruka and the guilt had taken over him, and then fear: what if she didn't accept him, perhaps she had already taken the string off and shove it somewhere hidden as to not embarrass herself. You might think it stupid for him to think of such things considering he was planning to spend the majority of his life in hiding. But still…it was better than forgetting about it. Then his thoughts shifted to Luna. What on earth was the thing has cast upon her? Was it his spirit? Never in his whole life had he done something as powerful as that and yet, if didn't seem to drain him of any energy.

For now onwards, he promised himself as he did with Ruka, that he wouldn't use his fire Alice unless he urgently needed to and he intended to keep that promise, but something squirmed inside him. What if the reason why he was able to make that strange aura appear was because of his Alice? Secretly, he would try to do again, tomorrow. After a long reflection of thoughts, the pitter-patter sound of raindrops lifted him to sleep.

Ruka had also been thinking of Mikan, he wanted much to say a decent farewell but the circumstances did not allow him to. He felt homesick and missed her so a great deal. He even fantasized of kissing her good-bye and blushed furiously at the thought. He wondered if Natsume felt the same way, but little did he know that his friend would keep that very thing secret from him forever and would never open it up. He then wondered what he liked most of Mikan, first, she had wide, beautiful eyes and a personality to match and there was her cheerful spirit and broad smile that could turned the whole world upside down. She always made him smile; never ceasing tin cheering people up, Mikan was one in a million. And there was long golden brown hair that he would sometimes twirl whenever she wasn't looking, she couldn't feel it of course but he could even remember the smell and texture of it. These thoughts drifted him into a deep sleep with dreams of having his own ranch and all his loved friends around him.


	11. Chapter 11 Grandpa

**Chapter 11**

**_Grandpa_**

The morning came faster than anticipated, and the two girls were ready to leave as soon as they got packed. But Hachi-san wouldn't permit them on their journey on an empty stomach, and so she started off in the kitchen as Mikan and Hotaru packed another few things into their backpacks. Hachi-san insisted they bring some of her home-cooked buns and a few juice packets.

Hachi-san sure was a kind, considerate, and hospitable person, and the two were grateful they met her. As she prepared three breakfast trays, the two girls seated themselves in front of her small rectangular table. The sun was rising and the birds chirped, and the view from the dining room's windows was spectacular. They could see the horizon and a few farms that lay ahead of them; a herd of cows grazed not too far away. The land was mostly of vegetable fields and it was no wonder Hotaru came this direction, she knew there would be shelters and small villages around.

The kind elderly woman finally came in the room and placed three trays of steaming food on the table. Their meal consisted of delicious grilled mackerel, a bowl of miso soup and steamed rice, and a few pickles as a side dish. They happily ate their meal and when they finished they helped with the dishes and were on their way, with Hachi-san waving goodbye as they trailed along the earthy road. They waved their farewells and when Hachi-san was o longer in sight, they started to chatter about their destination.

"You think grandpa would be thrilled to see us?" Mikan asked timidly as Hotaru fervently looked at her compass, a good meal always got Hotaru in a good mood.

"Well, let's see, you're his granddaughter whom he hasn't seen for over five years…" Hotaru said skeptically. "Of course he would, silly."

Mikan beamed.

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"I'll be searching for food, Natsume." Ruka said, putting on a blue sweater and a black wig. Natsume chortled, Ruka scowled teasingly. "I'll be back before lunch."

"Sure…" Natsume replied.

After a few minutes Ruka had left, Natsume started his secret training. Placing a rug on the floor, he sat on it and started.

"Come on, I got to learn this damn thing."

He sat in pure concentration, closing his eyes and thinking only about the aura but to no avail. After three hours of meditating, nothing happened and Natsume was disheartened.

"Crappy aura…" He swore under his breath.

After a disappointing trial, he stood up, wrapped his rug and snatched the ax beside the fireplace. He decided it was better to do some physical training.

As he stepped out, Ruka had finished shopping for food and only managed to buy a pack of uncooked rice, two cans of tuna, and a bottle of water. They had to make do with the money they had. While they stepped in the cabin, something moved in the midst of the forest and though it was slightest sound, the two of them heard it. They glanced at each other, nodded and slowly walked inside the cabin. Ruka shut the door behind them.

"Someone followed you?" Natsume whispered.

"I hope not…" Ruka replied in a whisper.

"Quick, you grab our backpacks and let's jet out of here."

Ruka nodded and obeyed Natsume, packing everything they needed, making sure he did it away from the cabin's window where he could be seen. They made seem as if they didn't notice a thing, as the spy pulled his binoculars and focused his attention to Natsume, who cleverly yawned and pretended he was taking (superb acting considering he once worked as a spy for Alice Academy.

As soon as Ruka packed, Natsume slowly walked away from the window and he slipped his backpack around his shoulders.

"Let's go through the escape door."

"We have an escape door?" Ruka said, looking astounded.

"What, do you think I was on vacation the whole time I was away from school…sheesh?"

Natsume pushed the fireplace sideways and it revealed a trapped door, he opened it and Ruka got in first.

Suddenly, the door burst opened and Natsume was halfway down the trapped door. To his ultimate surprise, it was the least expected person he would have seen in that moment. But it was him!

"You guys think I didn't know, huh?" Tsubasa-senpai said, grinning.

"Tsubasa!" Ruka exclaimed, his voice echoing below Natsume.

"What the heck are you doing here!?" Natsume revolted.

"Nice welcome, shorty." Tsubasa teased, shutting the door and setting himself down on a sitting stool. "I'm here because I followed you, and I also know about his place."

"But how?" Natsume scornfully asked, helping Ruka up. "Do you know how much you're risking yourself-?" He paused. "You are the only one, right?"

"Nah, I brought someone." He said sarcastically, stretching his arms. 'You really think I'm stupid, huh, Natsume…course I didn't bring anyone."

"So…you're the one that made the noise a while ago?" Natsume questioned.

"What noise?" Tsubasa asked. "I came as quietly as an ant."

"Shit!" A loud bullet sounded, and it hit the wooden floor of the cabin. Tsubasa looked dazed, for a while he couldn't move. "Come on stupid, get in the trapped door!"

Another bullet, only this time it scraped through Ruka's arm. There was cry, and Ruka passed out.

************************

"Grandpa!" Mikan squealed as she neared her old house. "Grandpa!"

"Sshhh!" Hotaru snapped. "Don't make a scene!"

"Oh whatever…" Hotaru said, exasperated as she saw Mikan run ahead and banged on the front door.

"Grandpa! It's me, Mikan." She cried out impatiently.

A woman opened the door and Mikan looked taken aback as she took a step back.

"Who are you?" the woman said, bemused. "I don't think I've ever seen you around here before, and who are you calling Grandpa?"

Mikan just stared and Hotaru caught up with her. Suddenly, big beads of tears trickled down her cheeks as she said, "He's gone isn't he?"

The woman raised her eyebrows and then the weirdest thing happened, she laughed.

"Oh honey, no, no!" She paused for a breath. "He's inside!"

Mika wiped her tears off, pushed the woman aside and ran straight to the room she remembered was her Oji-Chan's. Hotaru followed. And there was Grandpa, wrapped up on his sleeping bed on the floor.

He stared at Mikan for a moment, trying to recognize her. It couldn't have been her, she looked so grown up. She had long hair, still the same hairstyle, and womanly figure.

"Yu-" Grandpa cried. "-ka…?"

"Huh?" Mikan said. "No, grandpa, it's me! Mikan."

"Mikan!" grandpa gasped, as he ran to hug his granddaughter. The two embraced each other and cried. Hotaru looked and Grandpa reached his hand to her and embraced the two of them.

"Grandpa!"


	12. Chapter 12 The Duplicate

**Chapter 12**

**The Duplicate**

"Shit!" Natsume bellowed. "Ruka, wake up!"

There was no answer, Ruka just laid still, his eyes closed and his right shoulder was gushing with blood. His skin looked pale and so was Natsume's.

"There's no use trying to wake him." Tsubasa senpai said solemnly "It's best that you leave him asleep for now, that way his blood flow will not be too heavy. "

"Shut the heck up!" snapped Natsume.

The escape door they had vanished into was an underground tunnel. Once one had the time to walk through it for three hours, he might find himself in what seems to be a dead end, but luckily for the three of them, Natsume knows there is hidden trap door just above the canopy of hard earth. After opening the trap door would find yourself out in the deepest wood of Hokkaido. Japanese would naturally refer this as "the magnificent wilderness of Hokkaido." After all, that part of Japan is 70 percent of wilderness and agricultural areas.

They had started off running in the tunnel but after noticing no one was following them( and Natsume reasoned that it was because the trapdoor was well hidden) they just continued by walking. Natsume carried Ruka all the way. Even though Tsubasa senpai persisted that someone older should do it, Natsume gave him one sharp reply and the senpai had to give in.

"Where the heck did you come from anyway, huh?" Natsume asked, rather furiously. "We were doing fine when you weren't around."

"I came here to help you!" Tsubasa senpai exclaimed. "And besides, I'm not really that person right now…"

"What?" Natsume retorted.

"Look here!" Began Tsubasa-senpai. "I wasn't attracting anyone and no one followed me…because-"

"Then how the hel-"

"Shut up and listen!" snapped Tsubasa senpai, Natsume grew quiet. "I'm not sure who those people were but the truth is… 'I'm' not really here…"

There was silence for a moment. Then Natsume said, a little puzzled:

"So you're from the future?" It was too dark to see his expression.

"No…I'm a duplicate."

Natsume stopped dead on his tracks.

"What?"

"Yes, Natsume…" I'm not really that Tsubasa guy…I'm just an imitation of him. I was created in his very likeness by my master, Imai Hotaru-sama."

Natsume almost felt sick as he said, "Shit! So how on earth did you find us?"

"My master is very resourceful. When she sold you those shape-shift candies, the tag had a tracking device that she could relocate." The duplicate explained.

"But…you look too human to be a robot? What are you?" Natsume asked, stunned. "Of all people, why would she use your image?" They were still walking as they spoke. "Are you an avatar body?"

"My master told me it was because this image annoys you most? Anyways, no…I'm a vessel with a computer mind. My master made me from a certain plastic material that looks like the human body's largest organic matter (the skin). Right now, I am in pilot mode…a few minutes ago I was being controlled by my master's orders. However, to prevent any body else from tracking us, I am automatically set to pilot mode. But I have come for a greater purpose."

"What!?" asked Natsume.

"To deliver you a few messages that my master instructed me to:

"One, my master wants to meet up with you, so that you two can travel together. And my second purpose is to bring you safely to them."

"Them?" Asked Natsume, astounded.

"Imai-sama, and Mikan-chan."

Natsume nearly froze as the duplicate Tsubasa spoke these words. There was a dead silence for a while. After a few minutes, natsume spoke:

"I can't fulfill your 'master's' orders." Natsume said, quietly. "And you're only a duplicate so you can't understand my reason and feelings."

"Oh…But I can!" The duplicate exclaimed. "I may be a computer but my master is a genius and she has implanted sensors in my vessel!"

"That ain't what I effing mean!" natsume grunted. The duplicate just looked perplexed.

"Anyway, since you're a robot and all, can you help Ruka?"

"Why, yes, I can!" TD said (Tsubasa-Duplicate would be far too long to type, and from this point onwards, I'll just use the abbreviation to save me the trouble of typing and for you, the reading). "I have multi purposes, one of which I can locate the nearest hospital and run four times the speed of an average human being toward it."

"Dumb ass, that's not what I mean!" snapped Natsume. "We can't afford to be seen in a hospital, besides, I can remove a bullet myself. I just need you to help me for a while as I operate Ruka's wound."

"Ok, whatever." TD replied. Natsume gave him one look of incredulousness and said. "You know, I may not like Imai but she's done a great job in imitating that dim witted Tsubasa. I don't like it." But the TD hardly understood this.

"Anyway, I'm not operating in this tiny tunnel. We'll have to get out of it first and find a clean area where we can sterilize the utensils for a small operation."

Now, I can tell you about the arguments they had doing all the above and the details but I'll just tell you what basically happened. After they got out of the tunnel, through the trap door, they found themselves in the magnificent wilderness, but after a few minutes walking (Naturally, Natsume lead the way), they found a queer looking square brick house in the middle of the thicket of wood. It was only twelve feet high and obviously it was only one floor and had only one small door made out of plastic and no windows. The roof was made of zinc, and the corners of the walls were well covered with weeds and thistles. One might say it was abandoned for a year by the looks of the small building.

Once they opened the door and entered the house, they found themselves in a bare white room that only consisted of two bunkers and a small table; no others rooms or corridors. They immediately got to work, there was no toilet and no running water in the sink on the corner so the TD was made o fetch some clean water from a nearby river. Natsume laid Ruka on one of the bunkers, face down, so that he might operate his wound properly. He found a bottle of pharmacy alcohol and a first aid kit somewhere inside his backpack and then when the TD came back a few minutes later with the water and they had it boiled, he sterilized his tools for the small operation and a minute later his wiped each of it clean with alcohol (including a special thread and a large needle).

After an hour and a half the work was done and Ruka's shoulder was clean of the bullet and of the blood. But Natsume knew he had to rest and therefore kept very quiet and signaled the TD to go outside and talk. They decided to head to the river which the TD had gone to a few minutes ago, for Natsume was dreadfully thirsty, thought the TD didn't quite understand what he meant by the word.

After a long drink, Natsume leaned his back on a tree and looked hard on the TD that imitated him. "About that thing about traveling together…," began Natsume. He paused and the TD just looked vaguely into Natsume's hard eyes.

"Where are they?"


End file.
